


O Captain

by astronicht (1Boo)



Series: I have some questions for the cosmonauts [1]
Category: Star Trek, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Gen, Makkachin The Space Dog, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-18 23:59:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11885616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1Boo/pseuds/astronicht
Summary: These are the Voyages of the starship Gagarin.Or, Yuuri Katsuki inherits and co-parents a starship.





	O Captain

**Author's Note:**

> It was inevitable, really, that this AU would happen. Thanks to any and all enablers. I look forward to seeing where this universe will take us all.

Captain Okukawa retires early, two years into Yuuri’s five year contract aboard the _USS Gagarin_. Yuuri shouldn’t take this personally, probably, which is why he sulks in his crew quarters for the last two weeks of her tenure.

At about eight minutes til 1800 hours, he wakes suddenly from a sluggish sort of dinnertime nap just in time to realize that the captain would be disembarking in the next six minutes or so, giving him just enough time to get to the bridge to see her off, and not enough time in which to do so gracefully, in uniform, or without drool on his face.

Yuuri scrambles up anyway, driven by about 20% guilt and 80% feeling for Minako Okukawa, who sponsored his request to join the _Gagarin’s_ science department and yelled at him through his entire thesis project back at Academy, when she was taking a year of furlough and took on an armada of grad students until Starfleet took pity on its youth and sent her back to space.

Yuuri will miss her, even if she yells a lot. Also, the _Gagarin_ is his, and he does not want anyone he doesn’t know and trust to captain her.

As he shoves his way down the heavily peopled hallway -- it’s mealtime, and he’s closest to the canteen with the best raixen casserole, which is not what raixen is supposed to _be_ , okay, but it’s still pretty good -- he feels the slight tug as the _Gagarin_ is locked into a close Terran orbit. He stumbles into the turbolift, in which there is already an annoyed humanoid in engineering red, clutching his caf in one hand and staring around blearily.

“Going down,” mumbles the humanoid. It really did suck to wake up for second shift at the same time first shift was getting dinner and getting rowdy; Yuuri can sympathize.

However, he is prepared to screw up the poor kid’s morning, because Yuuri is an officer for unknown and, Yuuri suspects, largely bureaucratic reasons, and that means he can access the command override in the turbolifts, and what was supposed to be going down will now be going up.

The engineer grunts and spills his caf, staring around in confusion. Yuuri is a little sorry. But not very.

Yuuri bursts out of the turbolift, the engineer cursing behind him, to find that he’s arrived on the bridge and shoved his way into Captain Okukawa’s honor guard, who all pause to stare. They’re here to escort her off the bridge one last time. Yuuri probably has an invitation unread on his pad, but, well.

Behind him, the engineer has stopped swearing at Yuuri and has started slapping at the controls of the turbolift and swearing at that instead. Really, what kind of people were they hiring? If the new captain is anything like this, Yuuri really is going to resign and become a hermit on Vulcan.

Captain Okukawa smiles at him, not terribly surprised, apparently. Behind her, the only officer seated is the Lieutenant, who’s manning the comms. Yuuri quails.

“C-captain!” his mouth shouts, not getting the memo. The engineer stops hitting things to stare.

“Ensign Plisetsky,” Minako says, and Yuuri suffers a moment of intense confusion before he realizes that she’s addressing the engineer. “We’ll be needing that turbolift momentarily, if you do not mind.”

Ensign Plisetsky feels like he does, in fact, mind. But he keeps his mouth shut. Minako’s gaze turns back to Yuuri; Yuuri flinches, but stammers out, “Captain, is this-- Are you sure this is what you want?”

His voice, he notices distantly, seems to be stuck at top volume.

“Yuuri,” Okukawa says with a smile. She looks tired; she’s always looked tired lately, but today her shoulders are set like the commanding officer Yuuri has known all these years. Has grown up with, really. “I’m glad you came,” his captain continues, still smiling at Yuuri while he makes an ass of himself. “Would you join my escort, Mr. Katsuki?”

What’s he going to say to get out of it, really?

So, he crowds back into the turbolift with most of command, plus himself and an ensign who appears to be building a new grudge against non-engineering crew in general and Yuuri in particular, but honestly Yuuri can only handle his immediate problems right now.

In the transporter room, most of engineering stands at parade rest to see the captain off, and the ensign slips into their ranks. Yuuri’s beamed down with the rest.

He doesn’t actually know their destination, but he’s not surprised to see, beyond two stories of glass, the familiar skyline of San Francisco on a rare sunny day, the wind brisk off the bay, the shape of the hills something of a second home to him. He’s not been on Earth since his academy days, and he’s surprised by the joy that springs to life in his stomach at the sight of the fogbank lurking just offshore, the easy view of the Academy laboratories that vie for space with the mansions on the hills above Berkeley. The LightRail station is just visible in the distance, before it plunges into the sea. He catches Minako’s eyes on it. He wonders where in the galaxy feels like home to her, if not here.

Behind them, when they follow the captain’s lead and turn their backs on the view, is an atrium area connected to several long halls and airy conference rooms. From the main hallway, the Star Fleet board of directors are descending upon their sad little group. Yuuri’s brain takes a moment to remind him that he has drool on his face and is wearing a Tshirt that says My Dog is Smarter Than You.

Minako chooses this moment to ambush him. She turns and catches his eye, and it’s like the formality of the captaincy drops off her shoulders like melting snow off a roof, sudden and heavy. Her hands dart up and catch Yuuri’s shoulders. Her eyes bore into his, like she’s projecting, like she wants him to read her emotions loud and clear.

“You’ll be fine,” she says, which is ridiculous, that is a ridiculous statement. But she has him hypnotized. “Our new captain will be transferring over from the _USS Sally Ride_.”

“No one… from our ship?” Yuuri asks weakly, horrified. He should not have spent those two week hibernating. He should have been out there, on the bridge, reminding Minako not to put a total stranger in charge of _Yuuri’s ship._

“He comes specially recommended. Ambassador Yakov suggested him, lord knows why, but the man knows talent.” Ambassador Yakov also knew his way around a shouting match. Yuuri wouldn’tve tried to say no to him, either. He’s still mad.

“But-- Captain-- this is our ship! A new captain won’t know -- engineering is partway through a complex radon upgrade! And, and we’re going to lose Lft. Hor’zu in two months! He’s taking three years of paternal leave and we don’t have a replacement for first officer considered!”

Minako, infuriatingly, is nodding and smiling and ignoring the amassed Starfleet powers-at-be who are witnessing the Yuuri Katsuki Show.

“What if -- what if he takes away pet privileges? Not everyone understands the value of the therapy dogs yet,” Yuuri adds, desperate, and supremely aware that he is now whining, he is now whining in front of a room full of people who wildly outrank him.

“I’m sure you’ll be a great help to your new captain as he acclimates, Commander Katsuki,” Minako says with that same little smile. That evil, hunting smile.

Yuuri gapes at Lieutenant Hor’zu. The tentacles fringing the lieutenant’s face twitch gently with amusement. “But you’re first officer!” Yuuri informs him desperately. 

“Actually, I’m like, acting captain of the _Gagarin_ right now?” Hor’zu says, unconcerned. “So technically, I’m the one promoting you. Congrats, Yuuri,” he says, and slaps Yuuri on the back.

Yuuri’s throat tries to make a noise of protest. It sounds like something out of the swamp moons of Tendii 5.

“That’s the spirit, Commander!” Minako chirps. Her face grows serious for a second, her eyes darken. Her hands come back to his shoulders. “Take care of our ship, Yuuri,” she says, low and strong. Yuuri stares into her eyes, and with a silent groan, gives up his vague plans of early retirement.

They beam up without her, and it’s a relief to be back on the ship, on _his_ ship, even with the dread sitting in his stomach.

It takes a few days of avoiding all canteens and favorite hang-outs and talking only to his staff and Pichit -- via pad -- for the new captain to cycle in. As first officer, Yuuri discovers that he is newly obliged to do quite a lot of things that he wasn’t before when he was just the lowly head science officer. This means he has to be part of the welcome party in the transporter room.

He’s a little short for his species, though average for a Terran human, which he resembles strongly enough that everyone just assumes. He uses this advantage to hide behind acting captain Hor’zu.

This is the first time he sees Victor Nikiforov, and also Victor Nikiforov’s space dog. It makes an impression.

**Author's Note:**

> 1) raixen is a spaghetti-like dish, apparently. 
> 
> 2) If you thought I wasn't gonna name the damn starship after another Yuri, I really don't know what you were expecting. Just be glad this entire thing isn't called Yuri in Space !!!.
> 
> 3) series title is from a poem by Nazim Hikmet, actually, which my dad read aloud to me years ago and which I can still remember well enough to occasionally google https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/things-i-didnt-know-i-loved


End file.
